Princeton chamber withdraws $20K plan to refurbish popular kiosks

A kiosk on the corner of Nassau Street and Vandeventer Avenue in Princeton is loaded with public notices and advertisements. The Princeton Regional Chamber of Commerce has proposed redesigned one of two kiosks on Nassau Street.

PRINCETON — The Princeton Regional Chamber of Commerce has yielded to strong opposition and withdrawn its plan to refurbish and add paid advertising to one of the town’s bedraggled but beloved kiosks on Nassau Street, the chamber’s president said yesterday.

With the council appearing headed toward a split vote on an ordinance that would lease a kiosk to the chamber for a renovation and redesign, president and CEO Peter Crowley said the organization would rework the plan.

“The kiosks need to be upgraded. We continue to hear from the community that they are unsightly, disorganized and not achieving the goals that they were designed for,” Crowley said at press conference in the chamber’s offices. “We are asking for additional time before requesting final approval so we can make adjustments to the medium mix on the kiosk, which we are hopeful, will meet all of the community’s needs.”

The move was greeted with relief by those who oppose converting some of the free space on the kiosks to paid advertising, as the chamber has proposed to cover the cost of the renovation.

“I’m pleased that they have withdrawn this proposal and that they have listened to the many citizens of Princeton who found the kiosks part of the charm of a college town,” Councilwoman Heather Howard said yesterday. “I do think there is a growing concern about commercialization, and that was reflected in the public’s comments. This is a victory for maintaining what makes Princeton unique.”

Princeton’s two downtown kiosks serve as spots for the public to post and read community announcements and fliers for free. The debate over what to do with the structures, which are caked with layers of stapled papers and posters, has been hard-fought and heated as town officials and chamber members seek to update the downtown streetscape while retaining its college-town feel.

The ordinance before the council would have leased the kiosk at Witherspoon and Nassau Streets to the chamber and left the other, in front of the Princeton Garden Theater, under town control. The council had been set to hold a public hearing and vote on the ordinance May 13, but Mayor Liz Lempert said the measure would be tabled at the chamber’s request.

“I appreciate their desire to try and reach a consensus and work together with the council and with the community to find a solution for those kiosks that will be embraced by everybody, if not more people,” Lempert said. “They are one of the few visible symbols in town that Princeton is a college town and they’ve got personality — and the things that people hate about them are the things that make them somewhat lovable to others.”

Crowley said the chamber is not abandoning the idea of fixing up at least one of the two kiosks. The organization will consider ways to minimize the amount of space converted to advertising, which was only proposed to recoup the estimated $20,000 cost of refurbishing and maintaining the kiosk, he said. A less expense project would require less advertising, he said.

“My perfect world is that you don’t need advertising,” he said.

Councilwoman Jenny Crumiller, another critic of the chamber’s plan, has suggested the town reach out to service groups to manage and help fix up the kiosks. Lempert said
that boy scouts and high school students have expressed interested, and Crowley said that those groups and other nonprofits could be enlisted into the effort.

Crumiller remained skeptical of the chamber’s efforts yesterday, though she said a kiosk with less advertising would be more acceptable.

“It seems like this has been dragging on. If it were up to me, we would just confront the issue,” Crumiller said. “I don’t understand why they are putting so much time and energy into this project. They’ve already gone back to the drawing board. The issue is the commercial advertising.”